Sharks’ reactions vary to lack of Chara suspension, no Boyle tonight — and how Wellwood sees old and new teams

The NHL’s decision not to suspend Boston’s Zdeno Chara for the hit that seriously injured Montreal’s Max Pacioretty is being second-guessed by everyone from Air Canada, which is making noise about withdrawing as a sponsor, to Montreal law enforcement officials, who are looking into criminal prosecution.

But in the Sharks locker room, there wasn’t much outrage from a team that was very much troubled earlier this season when Joe Thornton did get two games for a hit on St. Louis Blues forward David Perron.

There was the suggestion that the NHL went soft on Chara because he plays for the Bruins, who also include Greg Campbell — son of league disciplinarian Colin Campell, who recused himself from this particular case.

But the general feeling was 1) there was little evidence that Chara intentionally set out to hurt Pacioretty, and that matters, and 2) players know the risks involved whenever they step on the ice.

“I really don’t know how the disciplinary people take things into consideration because it always just seems to be all over the place, but it is what it is,” Thornton said. “We watch games every night. Some things are ignored and some things are called and everybody’s kind of left wondering why.”

Later, Thornton talked about the fact this case involved his former team, the Bruins.

“Something about Boston and disciplinary action, they’re on their side,” Thornton said. “I’m not sure why that is. I’m not assuming Colin’s kid is on the team and that’s why, but it’s really bizarre.”

Ben Eager, who was suspended for four games earlier this season while playing with the Atlanta Thrashers, was less diplomatic when asked about the lack of a suspension for Chara.

“I wasn’t surprised because he plays for Boston. I know there’ve been a few incidents with that team and no suspension,” Eager said. “It’s kind of ironic because his son plays for that team.

As for the hit being worthy of supplemental discipline, Eager said, “I thought there definitely should have been a suspension. He (Chara) has played defense long enough. He takes guys on one-on-one all year long. He knows where the glass starts. I thought it was dirty.”

“It’s pretty much who’s who,” Eager added. “If there’s a few other guys in that situation who made that hit, they’d be sitting for a while but that’s the way it goes.”

Other players did note that Chara — who was hit with a major penalty and game misconduct for the hit — didn’t have a history of being a dirty player and that worked in his favor.

Ryane Clowe said he thought Chara deserved a penalty on the play for interference, but called it a reaction play, nothing more.

“I don’t know if he could have held him up a little bit so he didn’t go in that hard, but Chara’s the biggest guy in the league, thrown a lot of big hits in his career and never once been suspended,” Clowe said. “That kind of sets off the bell that this guy doesn’t try to hurt people. The league obviously looked at it from every angle, slow-mo and a lot more than probably we have. I think the league got it right.”

Other players saw it as a hit that could have gone either way as far as a suspension.

“It’s tough,” Joe Pavelski said. “At the end, it does look like he’s pushing him, but it happens so fast. Sometimes you’re aware of that stuff, sometimes you’re not. It’s hard to say.”

The damage to Pacioretty was done because the hit drove him into the turnbuckle that holds perpendicular sheets of Plexiglas in place at the end of the bench. Douglas Murray, who leads the Sharks with 144 hits, said he would never try to drive somebody into that spot, but acknowledged it’s not something he’s really focused on as a play develops.

“To be honest with you, I really don’t think about whether I’m going to go into it or hit somebody into it,” Murray said. “But then again, I don’t know what he (Chara) is thinking. Anytime somebody gets hurt, whether it’s from a shot or a hit, it’s a sad situation.”

Murray said the hit was similar to some that have made NHL highlight reels for years.

“I think you see a lot of highlight hits when you go into the turnbuckle. I’ve watched greatest hits since I was a kid from this league and no one ended up like he (Pacioretty) did, which was very unfortunate and I hope he gets well soon.”

Jamal Mayers has known to dish out his share of hits in a hockey game that now totals 800 games.

“I’ve been on the receiving end and I’ve done that to guys,” Mayers said. “You never want to see someone laying on the ice like that, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t try to do that.

“The fact that he is so seriously hurt is cause for concern for everyone,” the Sharks right wing continued, “but we can’t forget we choose to play this game. It’s a man’s game and we play at a high speed. It is a physical game and things are going to happen.

Tweaking the rules, even if it’s to protect players, could take a lot of the excitement out of hockey, Mayers said, explaining that players accept the dangers involved.

“You have to. The reality is a lot of guys are out there whose job is to be physical. That’s how they gain an edge, that’s how you gain momentum, that’s how you intimidate,” he said. “It’s not going to leave the game anytime soon.”

While most of his teammates were very familiar with the hit, Patrick Marleau said he has avoided watching the play.

“I haven’t seen it,” he said. “I don’t like seeing those things.”

Just to keep the image out of your head?

“I don’t want to be thinking about that,” he said.

*****Here’s coach Todd McLellan’s take on the play and the lack of a suspension.

“I think we’re all debating the legality of the hit right now and I think we should be a little bit concerned about the player. We’re hoping that Max is healing and will be fine and it looks like he will,” McLellan said. “That’s first and foremost.

“After that, it’s one of those situations where it’s a judgement call,” he continued. “You can look at it two different ways. Had it happened on the other side of the ice in the exact same spot where there isn’t a stantion, I don’t know if you’re asking those questions today or not.

“But the fact is it was a severe hit and he was injured,” McLellan said. “The league’s made it’s decision and we move on from there.”

*****Oh, yeah. There is that big game tonight between the Sharks and the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Canucks.

Dan Boyle won’t be playing and expect the same forward lines to stay intact from the start of Tuesday night’s game against Nashville.

*****Most interesting line of the morning came from Kyle Wellwood, who played for the Canucks last season. Talking with the Vancouver media, Wellwood explained why he prefers to be a Shark now rather than a Canuck, even though Vancouver is higher in the standings.

“I just think Vancouver has a few more lessons to learn and I’m glad I’m in San Jose,” Wellwood said. “I just feel they’re more mature because they’ve lost a few more times. They’re not so scared of losing.”

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Heatley – back to the $500,000 value on the ice. i loved the how he just refuses to backchek he just stops and watches. no forechecking either. i’m tired of him standing there with trying to catch the puck with a one handed hockey stick.

Mitchell – battled out few pucks. which i haven’t seen yet. played like a $3M player.

Badger

@#73 queasy: I’m not sure, but i thought if you were called for a penalty after overtime you were exempt from the shootout. How come Burrows still shot?

You piqued my interest. From rule 84.4:

Three (3) players from each team shall participate in the shootout and they shall proceed in such order as the Coach selects. All players are eligible to participate in the shootout unless they are serving a ten-minute misconduct or have been assessed a game misconduct or match penalty.

bruce

mikeR #18…Great chronology of choir boy Chara and his the Bruins culture. Jack Edwards has always been a smarmy little pr*** and calling for Pacioretty’s head is par or his course. Hope he’s happy.

BDub

Ok, lets not go overboard here…the Canucks are not overrated.

WI JP

I thought the game was entertaining, but I’m not convinced it was great hockey, by either team.

I agree with regard to the officiating or lack thereof. JP

Boonedog

Great game last night, felt somewhat like a playoff game with great hitting and physical play by both teams. Thought that the officiating was very inconsistent, not sure why we get two young officials for a game like this, one is either in his first couple of years and #17 I think is a rookie as I don’t recall seeing him at the arena this year. Granted I’ve only gone to about 20 games so I may have missed him.

Did notice Vancouver gets away with running a lot of picks and screens and getting away with a lot of interference not called. They have great speed and seem to run that torpedo offense that Team Sweden runs and it can come back to burn them as it did last night. Sharks miss Boyle on the power play and it seemed to hurt them bringing the puck up the ice. Also missed Nichol and his faceoff prowess, especially on the penalty kill in the defensive zone.

Everyone is ripping but how about Demers. On the second goal he was not even close to clearing the guy from screening Niemi on the shot. Demers better add some bulk during the offseason, could see him getting passed by Braun, who has a big shot that he gets off quickly.

Great to see Sharks show heart to come back. Could be interesting down the stretch and during the playoffs if they keep up these sorts of efforts.

SHARKFAN

Sharks are awesome… they are going all the way next year. Miss Nabokav wish he was back nut Nemi is still good. But from what i have seen Nabokav is the best

BUMBASS

Vancouver comes in waves at the net. If there is any offensive attack, all 3 forwards and one D charge the net looking for the garbage goals. They also have a couple of good net front players…my question is why were they allowed to just stand there screening Nemo? Murray cleared the front a couple of times, but for the most part they owned the front of the Shark’s net.

Happy for the point, but gotta figure Vancouver out before round 2 or 3 of the playoffs. Looking forward to the next road trip. It seems to pull the team together.

JB

Aargh–the Puck Daddy blog, like most of the rest of the world, assumes “Santa xxx” must be in either the North Pole or Southern California: “A Southern California youth hockey team appeared to have taken a dive…”

SCSharksFan

Spooky (107)-

I was at the game last night… and from what i observed, Heatley was somewhat at fault for both of the first two goals…

On the first goal he was there swashbuckling with Burrows in front of the net (rather than taking the body or boxing him out) and then Burrows just flipped it right by Nemo…

On the second goal, Heatley was in the box for a hooking penalty…

Can’t put the loss on him, but i wasn’t real impressed with his first period performance… he did improve as the game went on, but that first goal probably could have been prevented with a little more defensive attitude…

hockeyrocks

#91 puckace

Re: SO Possibly TMac’s choices were limited because Boyle is injured. Boyle was often chosen for SO along with Pavs and Clowe. Until Boyle returns, maybe TMac might let Clowe shoot 2 X ( coaches can do that, right?) now that Clowe has expanded his SO repertoire by adding a good fore hand shot to his tried and true back hand shot.

#92 Tano “the urban legend looked like he belonged, at least for a few shifts,”

Yes, TM had a very nice game tying goal and a few good shits but he’s still struggling for the most part on the 3rd line. Frankly I think our whole 3rd line seems “off” because it’s a hodge podge of 3 players thrown together because they don’t fit on other lines. Our 3rd line gets by in regular season but in the PO’s it will be exposed again as our team’s weak link. At times our 4th line seems to play more cohesively as a unit and have more scoring chances than our 3rd. I’d try Eager on the 3rd again with Wellwood and drop TM to our 4th. Wellwood and Eager seemed to mesh well together previously -maybe reuniting the 2 of them might help Pavs be more effective.

TC

Seems like more games are going in OT and being decided on shootouts. Wonder if the players are increasing their practices on them.

Hrudey

I was at the game. I sure wished the Sharks had pulled this one out in the SO. Two obnoxious Canuck fans sitting behind me at the game. Ugh!

Goats of the game…Wallin, Heatley and Marleau.

Hero’s… Clowe & Mitchell.

The officiating was the worst I’ve seen all year and that is saying something. Calls on the Sharks should have been called on the Canucks and visa versa. It made no sense what so ever.

It’s time to end the Wellwood experiment in the SO.

If Boyle plays the Sharks win hands down. Hurry back Dan!!

pac northwest

#99, bruce
The referees’ numbers–Eric Furlatt is #27, Frederick L’Ecuyer is #17. Easy to misread them during a game.

g-bum-man

#115 Hockeyrocks

“Yes, TM had a very nice game tying goal and a few good shits but he’s still struggling for the most part on the 3rd line”

Glad to see that Mitchell’s prowess in the bathroom stall has been noted by you. Exactly how did you come by this knowledge????

BumNickG

g-man: game. set. thread. /end

Dirty Bum®

SCSharksfan- I respectfully disagree regarding the first goal. Heatley as a forward had his man in his sights and played it about as well as could be done. He does not have eyes on the back of his head. He had his back to the puck-carrier and was minding his man. It sucks to be beat like that but you gotta give him some credit for being down that low…where was the D? It was a nifty pass more than anything. Any recommendations from your view as to what have should have been done?

Watching VAN skate around and watching their plays I kept saying out loud, “Damn, they’re really good.” Good to see The Sharks battle back like that. Me likey very much.

g-bum-man

#121 BumNickG

Sorry about that. This is a hockey blog, though. I never point that kind of thing out on the SF Ballet blog!

Bring on the Rangers, and they will be beaten by the “Giants” of hockey–the San Jose Sharks!

BumNickG

g-bum: no apologies necessary. I was about to make the same comment.

SCSharksFan

Dirty – I don’t disagree with what you said… he probably did do the best he could, but I kind of thought he could have tied Burrows’ stick up a little more, rather than having a sword fight with him… of course, as we saw later, he probably would have been called for interference or holding if he did try anything…

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